Improvement in



G. KESLING.

Muzzle-Loading Fire-Arm.

No. 15.041. Patented June 3, 1856 UNITED STA.

(i EU. KESLING, OF

IMPROVEMENT Specification forming part of Letters Pa To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, trnonsn KnsLINo, of Lebanon, in the county of \Varren and State of Ohio, have made certain new and useful Inn provements in Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part thereof, in which a portion of the barrel is represented as broken away to show the position of the charges within.

I have represented the principle which I claim as applied to a rifle. It is equally applicable to a pistol, or to heavy ordnance, and I so design using it.

The nature of my invention relates to the providing of a series of vents along that part of the fire-arm in which the series of charges are to lie, so that the balls and patching may be rannned home air-tight, and the air in ad vance allowed to escape through said vents, this being for the purpose of preventing the fire of the front charge from driving past the ball, which it would do if the ball and patching were loose enough to allow the air to pass them as it was rammed home, and the air must, of necessity, pass out somewhere, or the halls could not be driven to their places.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, 1 will proceed to describe the same with reference to the drawing.

The gun or other tire-arm may be constructed in any of the usual well-known ways, or the improvement may he applied to firearms al ready made.

A represents the breech, B the stock, and U the barrel, of the gun. D D represent two locks, which may be of any ordinary construction, the forward one, D, being connected to the trigger a of the rear lock, I), by means of awire or rod, Z), (represented in red lines,) which passes through a groove in the stock under the barrel. The trigger a, under this arran ment, will let ott' eitherof the-hammers of the two locks, as may be desired.

A portion of the rear of the barrel is used as a magazine to contain any suitable number of charges, (the present drawing representing twelve.) These charges are placed in the barrel in the ibllowing manner: first, a usual charge of powder, and then a bullet well res Parana wri ten LEBANON, OHIO.

nu FlRE=ARlVlS.

tent No. 13.5,04Hll, dated June 3, 1856.

patched to prevent the fire from communieating around the bullet, each bullet so patched acting as a breech to the charge in advance of it. The bullets have holes through them longitudinally as they lie in the barrel, which holes are provided with a fuse or some slowly combustible matter, which will take from the charge in front of it the'iire and communicate it to the next in rear of it.

In the part of the barrel represented as broken away in the drawing, 0 c 0 represent the powder, and d d the bullets. When the charge of powder 0 explodes it will ignite the fuse in the ball d. The fuse,in burning through the bullet, (which may be quick or slow, as required,) ignites the charge of powder 0, which drives out the bullet d and ignites the fuse of the bullet d, and this in turn ignites the charge of powder 0 and projects the ball. d, and so on through the series until the last charge, which is let off by the rearlock, D

It is to be recollected that the ball with its patch must fit the bore of the gun exactly; and in order that the air may escape from behind the bnllet in ramming it down, air holes 1 2 8, &c., are provided for it to escape. These air-holes also serve another useful purpose in allowing powder to be pricked into the barrel, should it happen by accident that the charges were not properly introduced, and the wrong charges may thus be driven out. But I would here remark that l propose to place the fuse in the balls and load the arm by mechanical means, which will not readily admit of mistakes.

The balls have a projection, r, on the rear side of them as they lie in the barrel, the hole passing through this projection. This is in tended for the more certain transmission of the tire to the. powder in rear of it, as this projection enters the powder its full length and places the fire in the midst of the powder.

The method herein described and represented as applicable to an ordinary gun is equally applicable to smaller or larger tirearms, from a pistol to heavy cannon, so that when the fire-arm is presented at any object and tired a series of balls will be thrown in quick succession.

The connectingot' the two locks enables the person using the tire-arm to let oft the ihrward lock from the usual place of putting the trigger without reaching forward so far; and,besides, any suitable length of the barrel maybe then used for the magazine.

I am aware that a series of charges have been used in fire-arms, in which the balls were I perforated and furnished with a fuse, for the the ball. I do not, therefore, claim such a fire-arm; but

Vhat I do claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The constructing of a gun or fire-arm, as herein described, for firing a succession of shots, thus forming a new article of manufacture superior, for practicable purposes, to any now in use, as set forth.

GEO. KESLING.

Witnesses:

AJB. STOUGHTON, SAML. GRUBB. 

